Hello all,

From my research of the game, I feel the holy trinity may still exist in the game, using methods from GW1.

In GW1 there was no inherent threat mechanic, so the person who ran into the agro range first gets all the agro, holds onto it for 5-10 seconds, gets in position and using a specific set of very well combined skills, the group of mobs would die in a less than a second, is this still possible in GW2?

I understand threat mechanics are dead and burst healing is dead. But DPS is still very much alive with dummies, sustained healing still exists and there is still an armor stat.

What is stopping you from throwing the most tanky character possible, making him go into room first, pings when he is ready, everyone else stacks conditions while guardian gives sustained healing, there is your Holy Trinity again.

I really hope this doesn't happen, but since people are so used to it, they will find a way to force it.

It won't be happening in GW2, at least not in the same way as in GW1. Two reasons:

First, a Guardian can't heal enough to catch up with all the damage while the "tank" is setting up the group for nuking. This does take more than a few seconds. In GW1 you'd have a monk helping the tank out with Heal Party while the tank is setting up the mob group, and immediately catching the tank's falling health after set up is complete.

Second, you can't build a tank in GW2 like you could in GW1. In GW1 the tank was often (in more difficult areas) bonded, had spell negation (Spellbreaker/Shadow Form), had armor increasing skills+armor+shield, and usually also had something to reduce damage at a flat rate (Stoneflesh Aura/Defy Pain). And the tank stood very still and ate all the damage, after cornerblocking the group of mobs. You just can't do the same in GW2 and live to tell the tale.

Edit: just realized another reason why this wouldn't work, after re-reading my post. GW1 tanking relied on blocking the mobs at a corner, so that the tank was on their way when the mobs tried to get to the casters, and therefore all stacked up at where the tank was standing. There's one big thing in GW2 that completely renders this useless - jumping and real 3D environment. There aren't that many straight edge corners either, so mobs would most likely be able to just run past the "tank".

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

Hello all,

What is stopping you from throwing the most tanky character possible, making him go into room first, pings when he is ready, everyone else stacks conditions while guardian gives sustained healing, there is your Holy Trinity again.

I really hope this doesn't happen, but since people are so used to it, they will find a way to force it.

Health pools+healing incoming vs damage incoming.

GW1 had a dedicated healer class, and dedicated tanks. You had guys that could take HUGE hits and keep standing, and healers who could restore half your health pool every few seconds.

In GW2, this will not happen. Non self-heals are mostly indirect, and very small. Mobs can and will 1-shot you if you try and toe-to-toe them.

Yo'll be able to keep agro to an extent using the method you mention, but survivability is what prevents a more traditional mechanic from working. People will try to force it, but it's not gonna work the way it did. it might get somewhat close, but never quite there.

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

Hello all,

From my research of the game, I feel the holy trinity may still exist in the game, using methods from GW1.

In GW1 there was no inherent threat mechanic, so the person who ran into the agro range first gets all the agro, holds onto it for 5-10 seconds, gets in position and using a specific set of very well combined skills, the group of mobs would die in a less than a second, is this still possible in GW2?

I understand threat mechanics are dead and burst healing is dead. But DPS is still very much alive with dummies, sustained healing still exists and there is still an armor stat.

What is stopping you from throwing the most tanky character possible, making him go into room first, pings when he is ready, everyone else stacks conditions while guardian gives sustained healing, there is your Holy Trinity again.

I really hope this doesn't happen, but since people are so used to it, they will find a way to force it.

Actually, this does work with invincibility/evasion moves. The only problem is that these abilities last for 4-5 seconds on 60-90 second cooldowns, so this method is extremely temporary. It can also be supplemented by dodge-rolling, but it can't be sustained over any decent period of time.